Category Archives: Thoughts

Poetic Endeavors

Posted in Poetic, Thoughts by

I’m on vacation!!! So, while I’m away, I’m going to be posting some things that I wrote in the past.
Below are some poems
That were written a while back.
This is a haiku.

Swirl

Swirling madness
Thoughts race by
Slow down, quiet
Rest my child.

Make Me

“Give me”, he said
“Give me what’s mine
Give me what will
Belong to me in time.

“Give me the riches
That I might go out
Spend it in revelry
Without any doubt.”

Out into the world
The boy did go
And spending unthinking
His money ran low.

Looking for work
The lad couldn’t find
So down on his luck
He worked with the swine.

Hungry, alone
Friends no longer there
He suffered the deepest
Regret and despair .

A thought, minute
The lad did arise
And back to the father
He determined to stride.

“I left saying give me
I thought of myself
Now father please make me
I’ve need for your help.”

The father, forgiving
Looked not in the past
But the genuine heart
Of the son safe at last.

Bring out the best clothes
Food, music, dance
Tonight we’ll be merry
For a son safe at last.

Inspired from ::: Luke 15 : 11 – 24 

Ode to Core Dump

Give me your segmentation errors,
Give me your core dumps.
Give me lumpy porridge
And black and blue thumbs ….

Throw me in some pseudocode
Throw me in some C
Throw me in the ocean
and say goodbye to me …

No I’m not going looney
Never happened yet
But just give it a little time
Comp sci will see my death!

Guest Post: Late Lament

Posted in Thoughts by

I’m on vacation!!! So, while I’m away, I’m going to be posting some things that I wrote in the past, I’m also going to be posting some things from friends. Today, my friend Ben, guest posts. You can read more from Ben on his blog. (And you can remind him to post more). 

I was given the privilege of guest blogging by my friend Shanella. I had previously written a long blog post about my love/hate relationship music and how that relates to the artistic impulse, so I decided to write something that builds on that, bringing together music, words, information and technology. I am writing as a musician and dedicated music listener.

It might seem strange to many youngsters living in this Internet age that people used to buy music in the format of compact discs, vinyl phonograph records (LPs) and cassette tapes. I am dating myself by mentioning that I used to have a fairly large collection of vinyl and still have a large collection of CDs. Similar to how the popularity of the compact disc caused the death of vinyl and cassette tapes back in the late 80s, the mp3, the Ipod, digital downloads and online retailers have caused the near death of CDs in our time, and with that, the death of brick and mortar music retail stores.

I really grieve over the death of brick and mortar stores like the Tower Records that used to be on West 4th Street in the Village. During my high school and college years it was a place of comfort and refuge, my ‘go to’ place when I had some free time. It was where I could see thousands of music albums in one place, with selections ranging from the most obscure albums to the most popular hits for sale and displayed beautifully. I could touch the actual physical items, not just see them as images on a website. The employees there were usually knowledgeable music fans that were helpful with recommendations and suggestions. The albums there were generally a little more expensive than those at competing stores, but the excellent selection and great service more than made up for it. Continue reading →

Why I Am A Christian

Posted in Religious Musings, Thoughts by

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. … Now it seems to me obvious that He was neither a lunatic nor a fiend: and consequently, however strange or terrifying or unlikely it may seem, I have to accept the view that He was and is God. – C.S. Lewis; Mere Christianity

I grew up in a Christian environment, my parents were active in church, my dad a preacher, my aunts and uncles all leaders and teachers in the church. We went to church many times a week, I’ve been involved one way or the other, a part of the Sunday School, youth groups, singing, I was involved in the Christian culture. However, that phrase, “in not of” didn’t apply to me, I didn’t really live IN the world, I lived in a Christian bubble.

As a child, when I decided to give my life to Christ it was an easy decision because that was all I knew. I was young, I thought about it, it felt like the right thing to do and I did it. Then, I moved to New York.

Moving to NY was a culture shock. For the first time I was exposed to a different culture. Life in NY is faster and harder than life where I grew up. The lifestyle we had there could not fit into the lifestyle of a NYer and in the process of adapting I met people who had no religion, many because they never grew up in any religion, and many more because they grew up in a church and decided it wasn’t for them.

With the latter group, I have asked questions, why did you leave the church? There were many answers, too strict, burnt out, but a big one was never really believing what was going on because their parents send them or took them to church. Some believed that Jesus was real, but they don’t believe that he is the Son of God, be it historical reasons – many leaders were called Sons of god during that time – scientific beliefs or personal reasons. One other thing that I found amazing was that they thought he was a good guy, or just another prophet. However, I can’t really think of anyone who told me flat out that Jesus was a madman or a liar and I wonder about that. Was it that they were being polite? Or did they just not think it through?

Continue reading →

Dear Sister, Happy Birthday!

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Whenever I talk about my family, I always say that my sister is “the sweet one” because, compared to my brother and myself, my sister is the sweet one. She’s the baby of the family, the one who always hangs out with my parents (and thinks that it’s cool hehe); and now she’s 18 years old!

When I turned 18 I had been living in the US for almost a year and I was on my way to being a freshman in college. It was the first time where being a “grown up” felt like a reality. The thing is, that feeling kept overwhelming me (and sometimes it still does) until I decided that, adults are really just like children, we just have different toys and less time in the day to be carefree, due to more responsibility. However, the biggest thing was, being an adult doesn’t mean I have to suddenly change the way I think and view life. For that matter, sometimes the way we think and view life as a child is more beneficial to us than any “adult” view.

There is a certain maturity now that you’re older, there were mistakes that you learn from, life lessons that you experienced and that is what maturity is, learning from the past – not changing how you think. So, happy birthday, keep being your sweet self and have a great year. Being “grown-up” is overrated, but maturity is valuable. 😉

Left/Right Confusion

Posted in The Observer, Thoughts by

I have a problem. Well, I don’t view it as a problem, but it was enough of a problem to get me into trouble!

We have these parking meters in my neighbourhood, they are a bit on the ancient side. One meter serves two spots and you need to fill it so the correct spot has the quarters needed.

After parking my car, I pressed the top of the two buttons (left) and entered my quarters inside, it ate one of my coins and I had to give it an extra quater to make the 9.5 hours I needed before 6pm. Then, I pressed the bottom (right) to make sure that I didn’t put the quarters into the incorrect section. Satisfied I took my things from the car and rushed to the train station.

When I came back that evening, I noticed a bright yellow envelope on my car. Immediately annoyed  – because I was certain I fed the meter with two extra coins! I read the ticket, it was issued at 5pm, surely something is wrong here, I was certain that I put enough coins in. Then I looked at the meter and noticed the faint arrow around the left button, it was pointing away from my car.

Apparently Left-Right Confusion is a thing, not that me knowing that it’s a thing will get me out of a ticket. Can you imagine my case? “No Judge, I just have this thing called Left-Right Confusion where I mistake my left from my right. Nothing to worry about, just a minor thing.” Yes, I really don’t think that will go over well enough. No, I think I’ll just ride my bike to the train station instead.